Tormented Falcon
by LastSeasonsFashion
Summary: AU: Takes place right after Wyvernhail. What do you think would happen if it tured out that Hai had a twin that she never knew about. What do you think would have happened if Hai and Nicias never became mates? Nicias/Jaylyn Hai/Nicias Little Lily/Nicias


The sun was rising just above the tree tops stretching out its warm rays over the cold land. The trees cast long shadows that reached to the edge of the lake. The shadows took on the shapes of tall jagged pieces of ice, ice that the god Ahnmik could have easily created in the cold weather. Ahnmik is the god of control, power, manipulation, cold, sleep, silence, and peace. His gifts to the world included bondage and mastery. He is still worshipped by the falcons but the other was Anhamirak who is the goddess of fire, love, life, beauty, passion, chaos, and destruction but above all, freedom. She is worshipped by the serpiente.

Two of which Jaylyn is. Her mother, Darien, used to be the head of the Empress' Mercy back when Cjarsa was still queen over the falcons. Her mother had shown Anjay—the Cobriana Prince—around the beautiful island of Ahnmik fifteen years ago. They grew close and eventually conceived Jaylyn—a falcon cobra hybrid. In all reality Jaylyn should be dead. She shouldn't exist to the world but she did. Her mother had committed treason in the eyes of Ahnmik but the Empress Cjarsa forgave her mother and allowed her to stay alive and well as the head of her Mercy. Cjarsa had sent Jaylyn to live in Sha'Mehay seconds after being born. She hadn't known her mother or her father. Her father had been killed within days of her conception. She rarely saw her mother through the mindwalking dreams she had when she was young.

She had been told that her father Anjay was brave, compassionate, and above all he was kind. He loved his people and they loved him. No one ever questioned Jaylyn as his daughter when they saw her in the market when she was with A'isha. She had never shown disgust for her or shame. She seemed to love her as much as she loved her as a mother. The serpiente never had shown a particular hate toward her and she was fine being blind to their distrust and hatred. She did remember what happened when her uncle Zane had started with his plot for peace with the hawk queen Danica.

Jaylyn truly felt like she didn't belong and the only one who changed that feeling was A'isha. She taught her how to dance and let her spread her gyrfalcon wings—despite it being against the law in Ahnmik, though they weren't in Ahnmik, and it being frowned upon by the serpiente—when she danced. The fighting magic of Ahnmik and Anhamirak caused her to hurt herself and A'isha a lot when she danced but she got a hold of it and had almost complete control.

When she turned thirteen A'isha died from a poison.

She wished that she could have made her father proud. She wished that she could have been whole like the daughter every part of his family had wanted her to be. She wished she hadn't had her mother's falcon magic or her looks.

Oh yes, Jaylyn's hair was the white-blonde of a falcon with the blue highlighted bangs. Her eyes were of clear silver and her skin was pale. She didn't want any of it. She wanted to have the dark ebony of her father's hair and his garnet cobra eyes. She wanted to be someone that the Cobriana family could have been proud to call family.

Jaylyn shook her head as she strolled through the woods, weaving through the trees. Her silhouette was just a small shadowed figured presence on the forest edge as she watched the sun rise above the lake and the tree tops on the high mountain path. The tall lush grass seemed to lick up her tall elegant legs as she pranced around in the dark morning light. She felt as if there was nothing to worry about as she twirled a moment watching the foliage spin around in her vision.

Even if she was a full cobra she wouldn't have the family approval. Even now she didn't. Jaylyn couldn't do a lot of things because of how her Cobriana family saw her. She wasn't allowed to fight because the serpiente thought her magic was too unstable. She was stuck in Sha'Mehay teaching dance lessons and performing. She had never had a problem with performing or teaching, but she just wished that someday she could do something more. She knew that in this world, if she stayed with the serpiente, she would be an outcast to society but, if she went back to Ahnmik, she would be welcomed with open arms the way that every pure blooded falcon was.

Jaylyn was only welcomed to Ahnmik anytime she wanted was because her mother and the Empress were best friends. Even now that the Empress wanted Jaylyn. She was to be welcomed to come back 'home' when she wished. She would be taught the old magic like all the other falcons and she would be blind to the hatred falcons had for her. She didn't want that. At least when she preformed for the serpiente they seemed to admire her passion even with her wings spread.

She sighed heavily throwing her head back and coming out of the darkened forest edge. Her oculars searched to quickly make sure that no one was there besides her. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, sitting on the soft grass looking up at the sky and closing her eyes.

When her eyelids shut she saw bloodshed and wings. She saw the scales of serpiente and the feathers of avians. She saw brothers killing brothers. She saw her worst nightmare and the vision that came to her from the _sakkri._

The serpiente war with the avians was stupid. Jaylyn thought it was just another plot by the falcons but no one believed her. The serpiente knew they were killing their 'other halves' but they still continued with the useless fighting that could not be won.

Getting up off the ground Jaylyn brushed herself off and looked around. There seemed to be no soul in sight around the mountain today. She started walking down the path back to Sha'Mehay. She would miss her dancing if she stayed any longer.

The sapphire _melos_ that had just been handed to Jaylyn was tied around her waist. She prepared herself on the Dais for the music to start. She had always gotten a lot of requests to dance. It wasn't anything new for her. On this very occasion she would dance the _sakkri'a'she_—a dance to ask the future for guidance. She wished to know what the future would be if the avians and serpents kept fighting. Every time she looked upon the future she saw the world go up in flames or hiding under thick sheets of ice. She didn't want the world she lived in to become an icy falcon wasteland or burned to a crisp by the unbalanced magic of Anhamirak's power. Ever since the serpent Diente—Salem—and the Tuuli Thea—Sive—had been murdered the avians and serpents split. Wyvern Court had fallen…

The blue of her dance outfit was gleaming in the bright sunshine of midday. She took the ready position: standing on the balls of her feet with her hands in the air in a symmetrical pose. Once the music sounded throughout the room her feet were moving. She let the music lead her movement. She enjoyed the electric sparks she got when she tapped around the Dais, bending and bowing to the rhythm. Her seemingly white and black falcon wings were spread as she danced about. They helped lift her off the ground for long amounts of time for the specific dance. Jaylyn's heart pounded with the beats of the drums and her white-blonde hair bounced off the small of her back.

She could see from out of the corner of her eyes that the serpiente were watching her, their eyes in a daze, as she danced. She knew they loved to watch a professional falcon dance—they never got to see it often—and they loved to watch her feet lift off the ground in zero gravity. She smiled happily in content as her hips moved in ways most couldn't move. They knew that she had taken lessons from A'isha. They also knew that A'isha was the best dancer that they had ever had at the nest. And Jaylyn was giving the dead woman a run for her money.

When people around her started to applaud she realized that she had finished the dance. She was sitting on the Dais in the serpiente position of finish. The applaud and cheering had shook her out of her vision. She knew that the vision was a warning.

Jaylyn carefully got off the Dais not expecting any kind of personal congratulation as she went over to where the fire roared. The fire in _Sha'Mehay_ never went out. It stayed as it was, beautiful and gleaming in the middle of the room. She sat on a cushion around the fire watching the flames engulf the wood. Just like Anhamirak's magic would do once again. She didn't know how the magic would be unbalanced once again but it would.

She refused to believe that—even though a lot of the _sakkri_ were misleading—that the visions of the future she had were lying. She knew what was coming but she didn't know when, or how, or why but they needed to stop it somehow.

She ran up the length of the hill with a smile on her face. Her black and white gyrfalcon wings spread wide as she used the wind to make her hover above the ground lightly. It was almost as if she was tiptoeing across the land. She was walking on the beautiful air of the mainland far away from the distracting shimmering streets of Ahnmik. She was nowhere near the singing of the ghosts that still haunted the White City. She was in the place she had always wanted to be at. She was running down a rolling lush green hill with her falcon wings wide open against the wind. Black cobra scales covered her hands and feet and her eyes became gleaming jewels of sapphire water.

None of that mattered to the gyrfalcon at the moment though; she let the wind carry her above the tall grass and into the sky. Jaylyn wouldn't dare go up any higher because she had just fought with her magic. The black and crimson scars had left cuts across her arms but they were almost faded away. She just didn't want to lose control over her magic again so she stayed closer to the ground enjoying the wind against her face. The smell of water was strong in her nostrils as she landed safely on the ground and raced toward the west. Her feet carried her swiftly, her wings tucked tightly against her back as she ran. No one invaded her mind and she had the peace of knowing her own thoughts. She was truly alone. Soon she could see the bright pool of blue sparkling in the warm sunlight. Feeling a huge burst of energy she sprinted forward in a stride that looked too animalistic to be human. Her feet were barley touching the ground as she ran farther, pushing herself to her limits. Suddenly she came to an abrupt halt at the crystal clear lake.

It was almost as bright as the white palace halls of Ahnmik. You could almost see all the way to the bottom of the water. The fish swimming gracefully around had no place to go. Animals could clearly see them swimming about in their underwater kingdom. They might have been rulers of the water but animals were the definite rulers over the land. The fish stood no chance as Jaylyn could picture a falcon sweeping through the water with their great talons and snatching up a fish before it had time to think about what was going on; before it had time to process that they had just become a falcon's meal and that they were doomed to death. They're energy, though, would make a great falcon even more powerful and help ensure the existence of the great species.

That made Jaylyn think. A lot of people thought that she either hated her cobra blood or her falcon blood. She knew that both cobras and avians were taught to hate falcons but she felt no hatred toward that half of her blood. Both brought great attributes to her but also great faults and curses along with all the positives. Her falcon blood made her stop aging after twenty. It gave her, her powerful magic that she wielded so carefully. Her cobra blood gave her the ability to be so flexible and give her the most beautiful scales in the Serpiente Palace. Her cobra blood was what gave her the ability to live in the amazing land of what used to be Wyvern Court. She wished that Wyvern Court still existed but no one should force the joining of the two species but that didn't mean that the two couldn't live in peace right?

She shook her head forgetting her foolish thoughts of peace. She sat down carefully at the water's edge watching the paintings of the small waves against the shore. She watched the fish jump out of the water occasionally and watched the majestic beauty of a world at peace in that exact moment.

"Someone seems content…"

Jaylyn whirled around and saw the most beautiful person in the world. Though she never cared for the falcon that was in her blood the one that stood before her was inexplicitly handsome. The peregrine had hair like her's but blonde rather than white-gold. The tips of his hair were stained with the magic of Ahnmik. He was about the same age as she except she may have been a year or two older. He was dressed in his usual uniform for the Royal Flight. He had always been more content with the avians than with the serpiente.

"Nicias… what brings you all the way out here away from the Tuuli Thea?" she asked standing up.

He answered with a slight shrug. "I haven't seen you in a while… I thought it would be nice to talk to you." He smiled.

She loved the way that he smiled at her. It made her feel like she belonged. She knew—with him still here—she was not the only outsider out of Ahnmik.

"How are the avians?" she asked lightly drawing the topic to a more neutral mood than it had been.

"Angry, they still believe that the Cobriana killed Sive. I don't know why Salem would have wanted to though…" she could tell he was in deep thought when he looked away from her.

She wanted to draw his gaze back to her face. She wanted to lose herself in those beautiful pale blue eyes of his.

"Are you going to go back to Ahnmik?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. She knew that the question had been hanging in the air but neither had wanted to speak it.

There was a long pause…

"Maybe… I'm not sure. Araceli will only use me for power though she loves me. Darien just wants me as a pawn as well to revolt against the Empress Cjarsa." He replied his eyes finally resting on her own silver. She had always wondered why she had gotten her mother's looks. "I would like it if you chose to come to Ahnmik with me."

That statement had caught her off guard. Did he really want a mongrel to go with him to Ahnmik? She knew if she went then Araceli would try to use Nicias to her advantage just as Cjarsa would her. Did she want to see Nicias made into the very thing he hated?

"I understand that Cjarsa would love to see you in the Indigo Choir with your ability to weave the sakkri so well." She heard him say.

She had been looking away from him and now finally looked up. "I would love to go back to Ahnmik, Nicias, don't get me wrong. I love when I get visions of the White City but…" she trailed off remembering the icy chambers that this world would be turned into by the falcons.

She shivered.

"But…?"

"But, the city is not for me. I am a mongrel, I do not belong in that world anymore than a serpent

would." She answered sighing and backing away slightly.

_Just believe me Nicias Silvermead, Nicias of Ahnmik; you would not want a mongrel beside you…_

She whispered to him. He sighed, the sound auditable.

_I don't care Jaylyn. You are the only thing that seems right in this world of wrong._

There were tears in her eyes.

_Trust me, Araceli would rather have you exiled then be with a hybrid that should never exists._

_Since when do I care about what Araceli wants?_

She recoiled from the venom she sensed in his words. He sighed again running a hand through his hair.

_I'm sorry; I just don't understand why you can't see that you are perfect in every way._

She wanted to fly right then. She wanted to escape the pain she felt in her heart and fly away from the pressure she felt. She wanted to escape to the White City. She wanted to confront her mother…

"Nicias, you were—ARE the light of my day, the air I breathe and the fire inside my soul. You always will be what makes me live but… I have to go… I have to—." She was cut off by the abrupt sound of a screeching avian. They both looked to the skies and saw the old Wyvern Oliza heading toward them.

She landed next to Nicias with a look that could kill sent toward the hybrid cobra next to him. She turned her attention from Jaylyn to Nicias.

"Could you come back already? Hai has had another vision and she wants you to…" she seemed to trail off.

Nicias gave Jaylyn a glance as if asking permission to leave. She gave him a slight bow.

"You will always be my prince Nicias Silvermead, _Shm'Ahnmik'la'Nicias,_ Wyvern of Honor, _Mana'Elc_, and _Kaya'ga'la_." I spoke.

He smiled slightly but Jaylyn caught a confused glance from Oliza. He nodded at Jaylyn, "_O'hena-sorma'la'lo'Mehay_." Then he and Oliza had changed form and flew off into the distance. Her peregrine falcon was leaving.

She would be leaving soon too. In fact she took flight right then and started toward Ahnmik. She needed answers from the woman that called herself he mother.


End file.
